A small Washington state border town is paying an economic toll for Trump’s trade war with Canada

Point Roberts, Washington — There may be no town in the U.S. as Canadian as Point Roberts, Washington.

“I would say 90% of our business is driven by the Canadians,” said Tamara Hansen, who runs the Saltwater Café. 

On this particular April day, the Saltwater was completely empty at the height of lunch hour.

“This is not normal, to not have anybody sitting in the restaurant,” Hansen said.

Nothing is normal these days in Point Roberts, which is located on the southernmost tip of the Tsawwassen peninsula, about 25 miles south of Vancouver, British Columbia. In one of the only American towns you have to go through Canada to reach, residents and business owners are caught in the middle of political and economic battles that have left them feeling completely cut off. 

“I can’t even remember a time when the shelves ever looked like this, ever, not even during COVID,” said Beth Calder of the empty shelves in her shipping delivery service, which she opened more than two decades ago. She is a fifth-generation resident of Point Roberts.

Calder says Canadian customers are “huge” to businesses in Point Roberts.

“If it wasn’t for Canadians, Point Roberts would be literally a western ghost town,” Calder said.

Many of the town’s approximately 1,200 residents are dual citizens. Border crossings from Canada into Point Roberts are down substantially, and local residents cite the recent rhetoric from President Trump as a major reason why. That rhetoric includes the president’s statements about his desire to see Canada become the 51st U.S. state, and his administration’s tariffs on Canadian goods not covered by the U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade agreement.

Calder says it was Mr. Trump’s “references to Canada in general” that she believes contributed to the drop in Canadian visitors.

“Then it turned into people saying, ‘Well, you know what, we’re not coming back for four years.’ And that was a big eye opener,” Calder said.

When her business plummeted 75% in March, Calder decided to permanently close her doors. Despite the precipitous decline in Hansen’s business, she’s keeping the Saltwater Café open for now. 

“How are we going to get through as a community?” Hansen asks.

Hansen believes that even if the president reverses the tariffs on Canada, restoring trust could be difficult.

“I think it’s going to take a while, you know? The trust is gone.”